Game of Thrones Season 3 Episode 1: "Valar Dohaeris"

Finally, Game of Thrones is back. After all the waiting, the first episode of Season 3 comes and goes by in a heartbeat.  Couldn't you have given us a two episode season premiere HBO?  COULDNT YOU?!  Anyways, its just great to be back in this crazy world, there's really nothing else like it on tv or film right now.

The episode starts off with action North of the Wall with Jon Snow getting all The Departed.  His spy storyline is intriguing and a good way for us to find out whats going on with these Northerners.  At King's Landing, Tywin's presence seems to be bringing new dynamics to Tyrion, Cersei and Joffrey.  Tywin's speech to Tyrion was pretty harsh.  Davos is still alive? (I almost forgot who his character was for a moment).  Robb and Catelyn find Winterfell in ruins.  Danerys' storyline is almost already better than last season, with her interactions with the slave trader a highlight.  This was very much a season premiere episode in the sense that it catches us up to most of the characters and develops new story arcs.

My only complaint about the episode is that it seemed to be about setting up for things to happen, instead of things actually happening.  I have to remind myself that the best episodes of Season 1 and Season 2 usually came a few episodes in after things started getting rolling.  Ultimately, I'm excited Game of Thrones is back and it looks like there's a lot to look forward to, bring on the next episode!

Observations:

- No Arya, Bran or Jamie =[ It was probably a good idea to not to try to cram them in this episode though.

- I got giddy when the intro music started playing.  #nerdalert

- Giants are shy.  Who wouldve thunk it?

- First naked chick, exactly 12 minutes and 40 seconds into the season.  

- The slaver guy was not in a good mood to sell 8,000 slave soldiers.

Bonus:  Here's a picture of the actresses that play Arya, Catelyn and Sansa blowing bubbles at you.  

My Game of Thrones Season 3 Hype Post

March 31, 2013. Winter is almost here!

(Warning: Season 1 and 2 spoilers below)

As a non-reader of the book series, its hard to read all of the web talk without running into any eventual spoilers.  When I do review it, it’ll be as a fan of the show and not a reader of the books.  I don’t know what’s going to happen, I don’t want to know what’s supposed to happen in the book.  This will be purely for the HBO TV show. 

Anyways, heres what I thought about the first two seasons:

Season 1: 8.5/10

The first season of the show was a pretty amazing accomplishment.  I usually don’t really enjoy the first seasons of tv shows for a couple of reasons that the first season of GOT could have suffered from.  First seasons of tv shows are usually burdened with the task of introducing and establishing characters and the world they live in.  The world of Westeros is complex.  Theres a ton of characters to introduce, all with their own families, lineages, histories, roles and geographies and presenting all of this could have been a big, confusing headache.  GOT Season 1 probably did this the best that it could while remaining entertaining and keeping you hooked.  Ned Stark was established as our main character and our guide to the world and politics of Westeros.  The story arcs centered around character development and they were pretty damn good. 

Favorite episode: Baelor

Season 1 Highlights:  Daenerys’ transgression from an abused and clueless little sister to a badass warrior woman.  Ned’s eventual downfall for being an honest man.  Arya’s sword training and her childhood shattering. 

Season 2: 7.5/10

More messy.  With no central character to rely on (I guess maybe Tyrion?), there were a couple of boring episodes in the sense that it felt like not much was happening except politics (cough Episode 2, The Night Lands cough).  This season was focused on war, which meant there were a lot of episodes leading up to the eventual confrontation and then the confrontation itself, which was badass and probably my favorite episode of the whole series.  The Daenerys storyline was really weak compared to Season 1, it seemed like all she did was whine.  Her story looks more promising in Season 3 though.  Rob Stark, Jamie Lannister and Tyrion (of course) all had their moments to shine.

Favorite episode: Blackwater (duh)

Season 2 Highlights:  Tyrion as the King’s Hand.  Arya as Tywin’s assistant and her interactions with Jaqen the assassin.  Jon Snow and Ygritte.  Theon Greyjoy and his betrayal.  Rob Stark letting love conquer all. 

Season 3 Hype

What I want to see happen in Season 3:

1. Joffrey needs to die.  Violently.

2. A scene where Daenerys does battle while flying on top of one of her dragons.

3. Hopefully Jon Snow loses his virginity to Ygritte.

4. The adventures of Jamie Lannister and Brienne continued.

5. Sam keeps his promise and comes back for Craster’s daughter/wife.

Newest trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69nUFqT7XFQ

HBO also released some stills for Season 3:  http://winteriscoming.net/2013/01/first-season-three-photos-released/#more-2254

Heres my favorite from them:

Warm Bodies

Warm Bodies is a zombie movie with heart, and guts, and pieces of brain.  I say pieces of brain because this is a movie where the more you think about the plot, the less you’ll enjoy it.  Instead, turn off your brain at the door (or better yet, give it to a zombie to snack on) and enjoy the romantic comedy zombie adventure.

If you haven’t heard, this is the movie where Nicholas Hoult (from the the UK tv show Skins, a favorite of mine) plays a Zombie named ARGHHH aka “R” who befriends a human girl named Julia in a post-apocalyptic zombie destroyed world.  (“R” and Julia, get it? ;D)  It’s an interesting take on the zombie genre (again, zombie falls in love with girl o_O), and had more laughs in it than I thought it would.  It’s silly, but is aware of its own silliness and doesn’t take itself too seriously.  Check it out if you like zombie movies and/or romantic comedies.

7/10

Archer: Season 4 Episode 1: “Fuque and Riffs”

Welcome back to the Danger Zone!  Archer returns in one of my favorite sequences the show has ever done.  Not only does the super meta opening incorporate Bob’s Burgers (the other show H. Jon Bejamin voices), but also includes a slick reference to A History of Violence.  It all ends in a glorious blood bath that starts off Season 4 with a bang.

The rest of the episode doesn’t quite live up to the opening, but is still pretty damn fun.  I forgot how much I missed all of the non-Archer characters in Archer until they started reappearing and adding to the craziness (Did anyone notice Krieger stuffing a piglet into his pocket?).  The plot of the opener made me question if I remembered everything that happened last season, but explained everything in the end.  As Archer starts to remember and recall the insanity of the past couple of seasons, so do we.  Let the mayhem continue.  Ostrich!

9/10

Silver Linings Playbook

David O’ Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook is an average film with great performances.   The story is something you’ve probably seen before.  Bradley Cooper plays a newly released psych ward patient who moves back home with his parents to attempt to restart his life.  Along the way, he meets a young widow (played by Jennifer Lawrence) with issues of her own.  Together they help navigate each other through their dysfunctional lives and yada yada yada.  

Anyways, the movie is worth seeing for Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence.  Cooper is great at playing a manic depressive who is always on the verge of a violent outburst.  It’s an extreme version of his character in movies like The Hangover or Wedding Crashers, except that there’s stress, anger and instability lurking beneath his smug smile.  Lawrence has great chemistry with him because, like him, she also lacks a social filter and is able to match his level of craziness. 

Together, they elevate an otherwise forgettable movie.

7/10                                           

Girls: Season 2 Episode 1: "Its About Time"

So this year I planned on reviewing a couple of TV shows, they include: Archer, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and Mad Men.  The one I was on the fence about is Girls.  Then last night, Lena Dunham won  Best Female Actress and Girls won Best Comedy Television show at the Golden Globes, the same night of it’s Season 2 premiere.  I guess it was the universe telling me I should include this show on my rotation.  Or not, who cares.  Anyways, here’s my thoughts on the Season 2 premiere.

The episode definitely felt like a season opener.  It seemed busy trying to catch up where all the characters left off and establishing where they are now, which is understandable.  Still it was entertaining and once the party rolls around, things start to get better.  Hannah is dating Donald Glover!? I like his work on Community and the rap group Childish Gambino, I hope he adds something to the show.  Their relationship looks promising.  Shoshanna is still weird but had my favorite scene of the night.  Marnie has an interesting encounter that turned out to be pretty funny.  Jessa shows up for a scene out of nowhere. 

Overall, a good opener. 

8/10

Zero Dark Thirty

I’m a sucker for year end top ten lists.  Specifically, year end top ten lists that relate to film.  The website metacritic.com has been keeping track of film critics’ Top Ten lists with a point system.  Their point breakdown goes like this:

2012 Film Critic Top Ten Lists

(http://www.metacritic.com/feature/top-ten-lists-best-movies-of-2012)

3 points for each 1st place ranking

2 points for each 2nd place ranking

1 point for being ranked 3rd - 10th, or for being included on an unranked list

According to the metacritic poll, “132 individual top ten lists published by the film critics regularly included in Metacritic's score calculations” and Zero Dark Thirty has been number 1 since it screened for critics back in early December.  Academy Award nominations were also announced on Thursday (http://oscar.go.com/nominees) where Zero Dark Thirty was nominated for 5 awards including Best Picture and Best Actress for Jessica Chastain.

So when Zero Dark Thirty finally had its wide release this past Friday, my expectations were pretty high.  I went into the movie expecting to see something amazing, with a little reminder to myself to not hype myself up too much for the movie.  Overhyped movies naturally and inevitably lead to disappointment.  I am also usually wary of critics, who I tend to disagree with pretty often.  However, after watching the movie, I see what all the fuss is about.  Zero Dark Thirty is a damn good movie, but not in the way that you might expect. 

The movie, which is about the 10 year hunt to find Osama Bin Laden, is not an action movie but a procedural.  A majority of the movie is interrogations and people in offices talking and analyzing character profiles, videotapes and phone calls.  Most of the action is in the last act of the movie, and even then it feels downplayed.  The movie is about details.  Details that lead to other details that lead to details.  I love this and find it exciting as hell.  Apart of why the movie works is due to Jessica’s Chastain’s performance as Maya, who plays the obsessive CIA agent.  We don’t learn anything about her personal life, but get wrapped up in every new piece of information she uncovers. 

I also like the way the Zero Dark Thirty handles its subject matter.  The movie doesn’t try to glorify or condemn certain actions, it just presents them.  In another director’s hands, this movie could have been turned into your typical Hollywood blockbuster.  Instead, the movie’s focus is 10 years of frustration and waiting. It is interesting that the movie was originally going to be about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and how impossible it was to find him.  Then he was found and they had to rewrite the script and take the movie in another direction. 

So yes, Zero Dark Thirty is one the best movies I’ve seen this year.  Is it the best movie I’ve seen this year?  I’m not sure, I’m too indecisive.  It is definitely top four, hanging out up there with The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Django Unchained and Looper.